This bill became law on 2025-12-26 as Public Law No. 119-64.
The summary below describes the bill at the version we last reviewed; the enacted text may differ.
YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyRefunds once counted as too old are now payable for taxpayers delayed by a disaster.
Your Money
A disaster can push back your filing deadline. That extra time now counts when the IRS decides how far back a refund can reach. Taxes you paid earlier, such as paycheck withholding, used to fall outside that reach.
The IRS sends a demand for payment soon after it records what you owe. But it cannot send one before your tax is due. That due date now includes any disaster delay.
More about this bill
If a disaster pushed back your IRS filing deadline, you can now get back refunds you would have lost. The delay counts when the IRS decides how far back a refund can reach. Before this law, it did not. Taxes already paid — money withheld from your paychecks, for example — could fall outside that reach. This applies to refund claims filed after the law took effect on December 26, 2025. The law also changes when the IRS can demand payment. The IRS cannot send that demand before your payment is due. Your due date now includes any disaster postponement. The same rule covers major fires and terrorist or military actions. The change applies to notices sent after that date.
Congressional Summary
Disaster Related Extension of Deadlines Act This act requires the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to treat the postponement of the federal tax return deadline due to a federally declared disaster or certain other events as an extension of such deadline for purposes of calculating the limit on a tax refund. The act also provides that the IRS’s deadline for sending certain notices includes such postponement. Under current law, a tax refund claim must be filed within three years of the date that the federal tax return is filed. (Some exceptions apply.) The tax refund amount generally is limited to federal taxes paid within the three years preceding the tax refund claim plus any extension of the federal tax return deadline (known as the lookback period). Under the law in effect prior to this act, the postponement of the federal tax return deadline is not an extension for purposes of the lookback period. Thus, under prior law, certain tax payments (e.g., amounts withheld from a paycheck for federal taxes) made before the federal tax return is filed may be outside the lookback period and non-refundable. Under the act, a federal tax return deadline postponed due to a federally declared disaster or certain other events must be treated as an extension of such deadline for purposes of the lookback period. Further, under current law, the IRS is required to mail a notice and demand for tax payment within 60 days of an assessment but not before the tax payment due date. The act provides that the tax payment due date includes the postponement of the tax payment deadline due to a federally declared disaster or certain other events.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Public Law
- Action Date
- 2025-12-26
- Date Added
- 2026-06-24
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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